Dear Attorney General Phil Weiser, it’s not “Do unto others as they did unto you;” it’s “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Weiser wants Colorado to ditch the independent redistricting commission 71% of voters endorsed in 2018 and return to partisan, gerrymandered congressional districts. Because other states have abused redistricting to secure more seats for their majority party, he thinks we should, too.
Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina legislatures recently manipulated their congressional maps to increase the likelihood of gaining additional Republican seats in the next election. In response, California voted to suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission and approve gerrymandered maps in favor of additional Democratic seats. Other states are threatening likewise.
Rather than follow their cynical lead, Colorado should continue to champion its inclusive, bipartisan redistricting process. Gerrymandering is unethical. It denies communities representation, increases partisan acrimony, and contributes to congressional dysfunction.
Since the dawn of nationhood, legislative majorities unconstrained by other checks and balances like redistricting commissions or judicial oversight, have sought to increase their power not by appealing to voters’ hearts and minds but by manipulating the process of redistricting. The term “gerrymandering” goes back to 1812 when Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed redistricting legislation to boost his party’s representation in the state senate. The Boston Gazette noted that one redrawn district looked like a salamander naming it a “Gerry-mander.”
Such meandering districts indicate gerrymanderers have been busy. Illinois and Texas’ congressional maps, for example, are crawling with serpentine districts drawn to ensure the majority has the largest number of winnable seats possible and the minority has the least.
Some states have completely erased minority party representation. Congressional districts in New Mexico are gerrymandered so there is not a single Republican representative in Congress, even though 46% of New Mexico voters picked Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Oklahoma’s congressional district map went solid red after the 2021 legislature ensured the state’s one slightly competitive district would never again go blue. Utah Democrats have no congressional representation even though more Salt Lake City voters are Democrats than Republicans. The legislature made sure to dilute their votes by divvying them up among Republican majority districts.
In New York, 44% of voters chose Trump, but Republicans hold only 27% of congressional districts. The opposite is true of Florida where 44% of voters picked Harris but Democrats only hold 29% of the seats. Gerrymandering has reduced Republican representation in Maryland to a single district even though a third of Marylanders picked Trump. Some politicians are now threatening to gerrymander away that state’s last vestige of fairness.
Partisan district rigging doesn’t just deny voters representation; it shields politicians from competition. In heavily gerrymandered Illinois and Texas, only a few districts are competitive. In fact, in most districts, incumbents enjoy not merely an advantage according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index but a double-digit one. By contrast, fewer districts in independent redistricting commission states such as Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, and Washington give that kind of insurmountable advantage to incumbents.
Without competition, politicians are under little pressure to respond to concerns from constituents who are members of the other party. They need not moderate their messaging or pursue compromise.
If anything, guaranteed reelection is an incentive to behave immoderately. Since the only competition such politicians face is in the primary, they feel pressure to please the most stalwart among the base with partisan votes and red meat messaging.
It stands to reason that if more congressional districts were competitive, politicians would try harder to be more broadly representative in tone and action. Congress would likely not be at an impasse over funding. Democrats would vote to fund the government, and Republicans would be more willing to compromise on health insurance subsidies. As it stands, though, not compromising gains praise from partisan primary voters. The frustration the rest of us feel is irrelevant.
We can do better than Texas and California. By being fair — doing unto others as you would have them do until you — we can encourage the same. Doing to others as they have done only provokes a cycle of bitter retaliation. Colorado should lead, not follow, and preserve its redistricting commission.
Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.
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